Photo of Florida voter, May 31, DC
a continuation of the previous post
The turnout in my precinct in NYC was unprecedented – there was a line half a block. As it was slowly moving, the mood was grim – people weren’t talking to each other – but reading or talking on the phone. People who already voted coming out had also a grim expression on their faces – except for 2 women – an older one and a younger Hispanic one (I had decided to survey)
By the time we got inside, a guy with a button and another started a conversation about those “out of context” energy comments. “They” didn’t say that….I wondered who “they” were in their universe. I craned my head to check the button. It said “HIGH TIMES”. Pretty much said it all
The main line had been divided into 3 lines – for the 3 districts we were. One of them was really short – the “jackpot” line, mine the longest. I discovered why . While they had 2 machines, they arbitrarily divided their use by books (residence? Alphabetically?) As a result, one of them was barely used, the other had a line.
Inside, on a desk, there was a copy of NY Magazine – starring The One with January 20 as headline. Murdoch’s NY Post (the one who endorsed MCCain) had an Obama cover pumping his fist up as well. That was not in there – it just popped in my mind.
The blond woman in front of me got to vote on that one and then the commentary started about the reasons for it. “Maybe that one is for Republicans?” “yeah, she looked like a Republican” one of those “progressives” immediately offered. My mind immediately went to the blue eyes/brown eyes experiment.
That incident also took me off the “undecided” mode – I was considering McKinney /Clemente up to the last minute. Once I saw how a woman was on the verge of being lynched for being blond, I remembered why I can’t afford to vote 3rd party. McPalin it was!
I myself was wearing a PUMA ID bracelet, paw button, PUMA T-shirt and orange ribbon. But I had dark hair, brown eyes so I was safe.
I finally got in the booth, pulled the lever – marked McCain/Palin and on the Democratic side Carolyn Malloney – Hillary supporter and feminist. Didn’t bother with whomever else.
PUMAtized the ballot and emerged with a big grin which I kept as I walked along the line of people waiting.
12 Comments
November 4, 2008 at 10:39 am
[...] – May 31 ← Now, go vote! – this is the November we said we’d remember! I voted – my story [...]
November 4, 2008 at 12:41 pm
Thanks Edge for your wonderful on-the scene post. I am off to vote in 5 minutes – at the garage up the street in a suburb of San Diego. There probably won’t be anyone there but the poll workers, so I won’t have any reactions to report. Oh well, in my heart, and even though it is raining and cold, I am off to make a statement in my thin, red, short-sleeved PUMA pac shirt! HA!
Go Mac and Sarah!
November 4, 2008 at 1:41 pm
You might want to file a complaint with 866-976-vote about that magazine being inside a polling place. This most likely violates the law about electioneering in a polling station. The law clearly states that no signs, buttons or any other paraphanalia is allowed within 75 feet of a voting booth. I would file the complaint for you, but I do not know where you vote.
November 4, 2008 at 2:02 pm
cookiegramma
There were also a few Obama buttons – 2 maybe that no one objected to. I don’t think it was serious enough to warrant a complaint.
November 4, 2008 at 2:06 pm
Right on.
November 4, 2008 at 3:33 pm
Just got back from voting for Mac and Sarah – it felt exciting and odd. Also odd was that in 3 years of voting in this same garage, this is the first time we had an African American poll worker – and not just one but two. There was also one hispanic woman and one causasian woman. And, let me tell you, the AA man looked askance at my PUMA t-shirt with the stuff about “Thanks Hillary, we’ll take it from here” on the back..not too hard to figure that out.
And, the place was packed and they said it had been really busy since 6:00 AM and they didn’t open until 7. Lotta interest here in So. Cal. My son just called from Sacramento, he said the place was wall-to-wall Obama signs. Freakin’ Northern California left-wingers.
Oh, well, we are planning a celebratory dinner tonight and I plan on there being something to celebrate by damn!
November 4, 2008 at 5:26 pm
another NYC for Mccain vote here. Do you think he has any chance of winning NY?
November 4, 2008 at 6:12 pm
Mississippi, early morning.
Predominately black city and neighborhood.
Heavy turnout, about a 45 minute wait.
Everyone was nice, although one youthful voter was somewhat petulant about getting his free cup of coffee that he had been ‘promised’ for voting. Another wore a heavy coat that had script written ‘Chicago’ all over it about 200 times. I wore an orange shirt, as did one black man with a slightly uneasy looking wife or girlfriend.
I got the evil eye – and it was witheringly hostile – from a late middle aged white guy wearing very expensive ‘working man’ style clothing that probably cost him about $200. I figured him for a DNC ward heeler type. If looks could kill. I returned my own ‘I can take you’ look. One of those moments when words were unecessary. We were outside the polling area. He neither looked nor behaved like a local.
There were plenty of signals to indicate how half of the people there were going to vote, and there was a bit of both strain and excitement in the air – BHO looking supporters seemed more confident, JMcC looking supporters seemed utterly determined.
Everyone was nice.
November 4, 2008 at 7:16 pm
Pumatized my vote at 7:00 A.M. in PA. I voted Republican for the first time in 34 years, and I wore my “Puma brown” suit, stilletos, and my “Puma” bracelet. It felt strange, but also good to vote for country, not party, and for a man, not a “brand.”
People within the polling precinct didn’t speak, although many knew each other. Instead, there appeared to be a very serious atmosphere which cloaked the room and its inhabitants. I instinctively knew that every voter present felt both the weight and the importance of his/her solitary vote. I have never felt that pervasive a pall at an election before. Let’s hope they had all come to the same conclusion.
November 4, 2008 at 9:22 pm
I voted in NYC. A poll worker there was wearing his Malcolm X t-shirt with a “by any means necessary” slogan on it. Too much. At first it really annoyed me, but he was a nice guy. Still. Voted straight Republican ticket for the first time in my life. It felt great voting for a woman for V.P. McPalin probably won’t win tonight, but for me it was a seminal moment. I got rid of any namby pamby phoney liberal intolerant crap that I may have been harboring all of these years. It felt great to get away from that philosophy of whininess. America is a great country. I think I forgot when I was a Democrat. All they do is bitch and moan.
December 28, 2008 at 3:00 pm
enjoy your failure
February 16, 2009 at 3:39 pm
Tevia
It’s your failure we have to live with for the next 4 years. Hope you enjoy it.